Tom Allen: Lord Sugar was torn between Apprentice finalists
The Apprentice has been airing on BBC one since 2005, with Lord Alan Sugar putting candidates through their paces to see if they deserve a £250,000 investment. The 76-year-old entrepreneur made Marine Swindells, 28, his latest business partner in this year’s final, but comedian Tom Allen admitted Lord Sugar was “clearly torn” between Marnie and the other finalist, Rochelle Anthony.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk at the Royal Television Awards earlier this week, Tom opened up about this year’s all-female final.
When asked why none of the male candidates made the final five this year, he admitted: “I don’t know [what it is about men on The Apprentice], I met them on the You’re Fired show and they are always very sweet and very endearing.
“But I feel like in reference to this year we had very focused female candidates and they were better working as a team.
“The boys, they were very dear people, but Bradley, he invented a face cream that turned your face green.
“It’s hard to come back from that, isn’t it? That was a really iconic moment.”
Marnie and Rochelle were vying it out in the final earlier this month for an enormous cash injection into their businesses.
Rochelle hoped to open hair salons in London’s opulent Belgravia district whereas Marnie planned on running a boxing gym in central London.
Addressing Lord Sugar’s tough decision, Tom said: “I think Marnie was fantastic, I think there were two really worthy finalists and Lord Sugar was clearly torn between the two.
“I think it comes down to his skillset, I think Lord Sugar really throws himself into it.”
He claimed the business tycoon “really believes in new and emerging talent” as well as “supporting young business people”.
Tom concluded: “It’s been a difficult time for young people generally and it’s nice to celebrate and hopefully develop new ideas with young people.”
The Apprentice winner Marnie is now launching her own boxing club called Bronx, in South London.
Don’t miss…
Gordon Ramsay lashes out at Lord Sugar talking ‘b*****ks’ [REACTION ]
The Apprentice finalist on ‘selling’ business after Lord Sugar warning [LATEST]
The Apprentice’s Marnie denies business could be investigated [LATEST]
Addressing her decision to quit her role as a court advocate for her boxing venture, she told her Instagram followers: “Walking away from a career that I literally tortured myself to get was hard, but you know what’s harder?
“Staying in a place when you know you have more to give.
“Don’t play it safe, don’t get comfortable and don’t ever settle for less than what you are capable of.
“Be bold enough to close one chapter, in order to open the next.”
Lord Sugar recently opened up about the BBC programme’s future, wondering who would be able to fill his shoes if he stepped down from the series.
Who would I put in my place?” Lord Sugar told The Sun. “I can’t think of anybody. There’s loads of people that would queue up.
“There’s no reason why I can’t go on to do 25 years. I’m very fit, so I don’t know whether it stops at 20.
“But if I ever did stop, I get a feeling the BBC wouldn’t stop it.”
The Apprentice and You’re Fired episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Source: Read Full Article
